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Election Day disaster averted for thousands of inactive voters

By Sarah Favot, sfavot@lowellsun.com

Updated:
11/01/2012 08:57:09 AM EDT

LOWELL -- Potentially thousands of voters who arrive at the polls to cast their vote on Nov. 6 would have faced some obstacles to voting if the city and the Secretary of State's Office hadn't intervened, officials say.

Approximately 14,000 registered voters in Lowell were moved to the inactive list prior to the Sept. 6 primary election. Voters who do not return an annual city census sent to residences in January and have not voted in the past two state elections are moved to the inactive list.

State law requires that local registrars send a notice in writing to voters who are moving to the inactive voter list. The voter will be put back on the active list if he or she responds to the notice.

The statute requires that a pre-addressed and postage prepaid return card is included in the notice, which voters send back to the city to remain active.

A spokesman from the Secretary of State's Office said other communities have also had problems with inactive voter lists this election season.

A review by City Solicitor Christine O'Connor found that protocol in Lowell had not been followed.

"We reviewed the process, which was utilized in the election's office," O'Connor said. "Based on that review, I contacted the Secretary of State's Office and inquired whether there was compliance with the statutory requirements. In my opinion, there wasn't. They agreed.

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O'Connor said according to her review, the pre-addressed and postage prepaid return card was not included in the notice sent to voters who were moved to the inactive list.

Inactive voters are still able to vote, but the voting process is slowed down. At the polls, voters have to show identification and sign an affidavit declaring current and continuous residence.

"The concern that the city had was really for the overall integrity of the election process, long lines, long delays and people not getting the opportunity to vote who otherwise should have," O'Connor said.

She also said the fact that this is a presidential election year made the stakes even higher.

Lowell, and the Merrimack Valley, is also an important battleground in the U.S. Senate race. Both Sen. Scott Brown and Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren have spent a great deal of time campaigning in the Mill City.

At the polls during the primary, some voters found themselves on the inactive list and went through the process of showing I.D. and signing an affidavit, O'Connor said.

O'Connor said she became aware of the problem after the primary.

"The election office had been aware of it some time before," she said.

Brian McNiff, a spokesman from the Secretary of State's office, said other communities have not had necessarily the same problem as the city of Lowell, but similar problems with inactive voters.

After the election, O'Connor said her office will spend time reviewing the process and looking at what might have gone wrong and what improvements can be made.

"The first and primary concern was getting it rectified, so voters going to cast their ballots wouldn't see any abnormal obstruction to voting," she said.

Gail Cenik, office manager at the elections and census commission, said there are now 5,000 voters on the inactive list, an amount she termed as average.

"There are going to be some inactive, not the large number that we had at the primary," she said.

Cenik said during the primary about 18,700 voters were listed as inactive.

In another matter related to the city's elections operation, The Sun has learned that the city has hired Joseph Kaplan, of Mansfield, to work in the office. Kaplan was formerly employed in the City of Cambridge Election Department. Kaplan was one of several finalists interviewed by the City Council for the city clerk's job last December. Councilors eventually chose former city councilor Michael Geary for the post.

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